Water type blancher

Abstract

A deluge water type vegetable blancher is disclosed which comprises an elongated tank, a conveyor above the tank to carry vegetables longitudinally of the tank, a flood/deluge system adapted to water blanch the vegetables upon the conveyor, drain lines in the tank to discharge the blanching water, a filter receiving the discharged water from the drain lines to continuously filter and recirculate the blanching water and one or more pumps including water heaters to supply hot water at substantially constant temperature throughout the entire flood/deluge system.

What is claimed: 
     
       1. A water type vegetable blancher comprising a frame;   an elongated tank supported upon the frame, the tank comprising a bottom and sidewalls extending upwardly from the bottom;   conveyor means operatively carried above the tank bottom and adapted to transport the vegetables longitudinally of the tank;   deluge means above the conveyor means to hot water blanch the vegetables, the deluge means comprising a header and a plurality of spaced branches in fluid communication with the header, and deluge heads connected to the branches, the deluge heads being adapted to flood the vegetables with hot water as they are transported by the conveyor means, the hot water falling into the tank through the conveyor means after blanching;     drain means in the bottom of the tank to remove the blanching water; and   water feed means to supply water under pressure to the deluge heads, the water feed means comprising a pump having its discharge connected to the header and means to heat the water sufficiently to effect hot water blanching of the vegetables.     
     
     
       2. The blancher of claim 1 wherein the branches comprise a plurality of transversely oriented, longitudinally spaced pipes. 
     
     
       3. The blancher of claim 2 wherein the deluge means is divided into at least two zones, each zone receiving its water supply independently of every other zone. 
     
     
       4. The blancher of claim 1 and water recirculation means connected to the drain means, the water recirculation means including a filter and a tank. 
     
     
       5. The blancher of claim 4 wherein the filter comprises a rotatable reel strainer. 
     
     
       6. The blancher of claim 1 wherein the means to heat the water comprises a steam connection to the pump discharge, the steam connection having sufficient capacity to heat the water at the deluge heads to a temperature slightly less than boiling. 
     
     
       7. The blancher of claim 1 wherein the deluge means comprises temperature control means to maintain substantially constant water temperature at all of the deluge heads. 
     
     
       8. The blancher of claim 7 wherein the temperature control means comprises dividing the deluge heads into a plurality of zones and a hot water supply pump having its discharge connected to the individually feed a quantity of hot water simultaneously to each zone to maintain substantially constant water temperature at all of the deluge heads. 
     
     
       9. The blancher of claim 8 wherein the temperature control means comprises a heating loop at each pump discharge for water heating purposes, each heating loop comprising a steam connection and a venturi to effectively mix the steam with the water discharged by the pump. 
     
     
       10. The method of blanching raw vegetables having enzymes comprising loading the vegetables upon a conveyor and transporting the vegetables through a blanching apparatus for a predetermined period of time;   heating a quantity of water to a preselected temperature for vegetable blanching purposes;   pumping the heated water to a plurality of spaced pipes located above the conveyor;   discharging the heated water from the pipes and flooding the vegetables upon the conveyor with quantities of heated water for a preselected period of time; and   water blanching the vegetables upon the conveyor to inactivate the enzymes.   
     
     
       11. The method of claim 10 wherein the discharging comprises connecting a plurality of spaced deluge nozzles in the pipes and discharging the heated water through the deluge nozzles. 
     
     
       12. The method of claim 11 wherein the discharging comprises spacing the nozzles substantially equidistantly along the spaced pipes. 
     
     
       13. The method of claim 12 wherein the discharging comprises spacing the pipes equidistantly and over the entire conveyor. 
     
     
       14. The method of claim 11 and recirculating the discharged water. 
     
     
       15. The method of claim 14 wherein the recirculating comprises collecting the discharged water in an elongated tank, draining the water from the tank and filtering the drained water. 
     
     
       16. The method of claim 15 wherein the heating comprises dividing the water into a plurality of zones and independently heating the water in each zone. 
     
     
       17. The method of claim 10 wherein the discharging comprises flooding the vegetables upon the conveyor by utilizing sufficient quantities of hot water. 
     
     
       18. The method of claim 10 including the step of changing the predetermined period of time by varying the speed of conveyor travel.